Canal and bivek lock



J DAVIES CANAL AND RIVER LOOK.

Patented No-v .6, 1860.

WIT/YEGSES,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES DAVIES, OF SCHUYLKILL HAVEN, PENNSYLVANIA.

CANAL AND RIVER LOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 30,564, dated November 6, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES DAVIES, of Schuylkill Haven, in the county ofSchuylkill and State of Pennsylvania, have in vented certain new anduseful Improvements in the Construction of Canal and River Locks; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same and of its mode of operation, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, making a part of my specification, inwhich-- Figure 1, represents a vertical section through a portion of oneof the lock walls, in the line of its length. Figs. 2 and 3, representrespectively horizontal sections through the lock walls, at the line ofthe water ways through them.

Similar letters of reference where they occur denote like parts of thestructure in all the drawings.

I am aware that chambers have been constructed in look walls, and thattheir inlets have been furnished with wicket gates. The object of thesechambers was to receive the water from the lock chamber, instead ofallowing it to run into the level below the lock; and when the lockchamber was to be refilled, the water from these chambers or hollowwalls, was allowed to flow into the lock chamber. The object aimed atwas to save water, which it would do to a certain extent.

The object of my invention is to facilitate the passage of boats into,and out of locks, and in doing this I incidentally save the water fromwashing into the lower level, to a certain extent, and I also use wicketgates, but the water ways or passages which I make in the lock walls,have an inlet, and an exit for the water, and moreover extend from thelock chamber to the upper level, and also to the lower level, and arenot simply adjuncts to the lock chamber. They lead from the chamber tothe canal, or level, both above and below the lock, and the water thatenters at one end of the passage, goes out at the opposite end.

The nature of my invention consists in combining with a lock chamber, awater way or passage, or water ways or passages, which extend from thelock chamber, to the level above, and below the lock, for the purpose ofpreventing the water from piling at the bow of the boat or vessel onentering the lock, and to prevent the suck, which retards the boat orvessel when she leaves the lock'said passages being provided withsuitable wickets to close and open them, as circumstances may require.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe the same with reference to the drawings.

When a lock chamber is prepared for receiving a descending boat orvessel, the water in it is of course as high as that in the level orcanal above it, and a boat to get into the lock, must displace as muchwater in the chamber, as is equal to the cubical content of that part ofthe boat that is under the water line. The displacing of this bulk ofWater retards the boat or vessel very much, and besides the water pilesup at the bow of the boat and is forced over the lower gates into thelower level. Now, to avoid this retardation, and incidentally theforcing of the water from the higher to the lower level, I haveconstructed a water Way or passage A, in one or both of the lock walls,furnished with wickets B; and when a boat is to enter the look fromabove, these wickets B, are opened, and the water that is displaced fromthe lock chamber, by the entrance of the boat, instead 01": piling up,and flowing over the lower gate, flows back through these water waysinto the upper level, and thus saves it at this height instead ofwashing it, where it may not be wanted. The boat having been lowered inthe lock chamber to the lower level, another difliculty exists ingetting her in motion. So great is this difficulty that the team thatreadily draws the vessel in the canal, cannot start it out of the lockchamber, and resort is had to swelling it out, that is, raising thewickets in the upper lock gate to create a swell in the water suificientto float out the boat. In this there is great waste of water frequentlyrequiring as much and sometimes more than would fill the lock chamber.The difficulty in moving the boat out. of the lock chamber arises fromthis that the boats are as large as will pass through the chamber, or,in other words, fill the chamber, and the moment the boat is startedforward, the water that rushes back to fill up the space she occupied,carries-the boat back too, and thus the team is unable to draw the boatout without other aid this suck as they term it, holding as it were theboat tightly bound. Now to avoid this difiiculty, and to save swellingout the boat, I construct in one or both of the lock walls, a water wayor passage 0, furnished with a wicket D, which wicket when opened allowsthe water from below the lock to freely flow into the lock chamber, nearor at the stern of the boat, and take the place of that which otherwisewould rush back through the lock chamber with such violence, as to dragback the boat with it, or, in other words, I avoid what the boatmen termthe suck of the water by allowing water to enter behind the boat frombelow the look through the passages C. These passages A, C, may not bothbe used on the same look, as one, can be used without the other, but Iclaim the passages whether used for entering and leaving a lock, withfacility, or

whether used singly for entering, or for leaving, and not both on thesame look.

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention, and'shown how itoperates, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by LettersPatent is- In combination with a lock chamber, a passage, or passages,through which the water may flow back into'the upper level when a boatenters the look from above, and through which water may flow into thechamber from the level below, when the boat is leaving the lock,substantially in the manner, and for the purpose set forth.

JAMES DAVIES.

Witnesses:

'WILLIAM B. RUDY, REUBEN SoHooK.

